


Amazing

by daughter_of_terror



Category: Actor RPF, Richlee - Fandom, The Hobbit RPF
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Geocaching - Freeform, Hiking, M/M, New Zealand, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 18:46:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7982200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daughter_of_terror/pseuds/daughter_of_terror
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Richard takes Lee hiking in New Zealand as an impromptu first date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Amazing

Richard wasn’t entirely positive that his idea would prove to be successful, but he had finally resolved to go with his instinct on this one so there was no backing down now. He knew that Lee was very outdoorsy and loved hiking, and remembered him mentioning that he was hoping to be able to visit some of New Zealand’s many gorgeous national parks and hiking trails, and Richard was going to make that happen!

 

The problem was that since they had both been so busy with their respective filming and training, they had barely seen each other for a few days now. Not since that perfect moment they’d shared out on the balcony of Ian’s flat a few nights ago, the one that Richard still remembered fondly and as vividly as if it had just happened, and that had kept him going ever since.

 

The moment had, regrettably, not led to anything more that night; mostly because of some stupid sense of chivalry that had overcome Richard and he had suddenly stopped the whole thing and expressed his wishes to take Lee out on a “proper date” first. He wasn’t sure which of them had been more annoyed with him at that moment, but before they’d had a chance discuss the matter they’d been interrupted by Evie, who had come out to check where Lee had got to.

 

In the five days that had passed since they had only met each other in passing, sharing coy smiles as they has passed going in opposite directions on set and a few intense glances those few times they happened to be in the same room together; both being equally too shy to actually make the next move. And Richard was starting to feel like if they didn’t resolve the matter soon, it would become too awkward.

 

So when he’d gotten the unexpected news late yesterday afternoon that everyone would get this friday off from filming, Richard had immediately started to hatch a plan, spending the bulk of the evening researching national parks and hiking trails in the vicinity of Wellington, ordering a rental car, packing his hiking gear, and making sandwiches. And now here he was setting the plan in motion.

 

He was uncomfortably aware that the success of this plan hinged on a number of things that he had chosen not to give much thought to in the whole planning process. For instance, he wasn’t sure whether Lee would be awake this early in the morning on a day off, whether he had made any other plans himself or, indeed, whether he was still even interested in spending time with him. Richard pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he pulled up in the driveway of Evie’s house, where Lee was staying. Right now he was full of some rarely-found confidence within, which he was determined to act on and damn the consequences!

 

He killed the engine and, with a one last self-pep-up, stepped out of the car. He remembered Lee mentioning having his own room at Evie’s, with an exit that led out onto a deck, and so he made his way around to the back of the house where the morning sun was shining brightly on a cozy wooden deck complete with garden furniture and a patio heater.

 

_Oh, this looks cozy_ , thought Richard with a fleeting image of himself and Lee snuggling together on the garden sofa. Then, _shit!_ as he realized that there were two more doors leading out onto the same deck, and he had absolutely no clue as to which of them was Lee’s.  

 

If he were to venture a guess, he assumed that one of the doors would lead to Lee, one into a living/dining room and one into Evie and her husband’s bedroom. Before he could go into full panic-mode Richard quickly decided to just go up to the closest door - the one on a different side of the house from the other two - and see who would answer his knock.  

 

Mentally preparing himself for putting all his improv skills to good use, in case it turned out to be the wrong door and someone other than Lee would answer, he strode up the steps leading up to the deck and knocked lightly three times.

Nothing.

Fighting the urge to run back to the car, drive away and possibly leave the country, he knocked again, a bit louder this time.

 

Now he heard some stirring from within, and was getting ready to dash away should everything go to shit, when he heard the distinct creaking of a bed frame  and a soft but bleary “Wha’th’hell?” in a voice he thankfully knew very well. Richard relaxed, letting his shoulders drop.

 

The door opened slowly and Richard was greeted by a very sleepy, very tousle-haired Lee. His form filled the whole doorway and he was wearing a white old tattered t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts that Richard couldn’t help but notice left very little to the imagination.

 

Mentally berating himself for staring, Richard looked  up at Lee’s still sleepy face, now squinting at him because of the strong morning light.

 

“Morning!” Richard greeted brightly, handing Lee a large cup of coffee.

“Mhhm, is it?.” said Lee shortly, shooting daggers at him. He hadn’t touched his coffee yet and Richard was not entirely sure that he had even registered that he had coffee, until he finally raised the cup slightly and deeply inhaled the strong scent. It seemed to wake him up. A little.

“Rich…. sorry, but… what the fuck are you doing here?” He stifled a yawn, shut his eyes, then turned to check the alarm clock on his nightstand. “At seven thirty in the morning?” Then he sighed and stepped aside. “Please come in, I can’t handle the sun so early.”

 

Pushing aside the sudden realization that he was being invited into the bedroom of the guy he had a major crush on, Richard entered and closed the door behind him, leaving the room in a blissful darkness and stale air. The room was not very large but it did have a decent sized wardrobe, a chair, a desk and - Richard noticed specifically - a double-sized bed. Allowing himself to push a fairly large pile of dirty clothes and towels from the chair, he sat himself down opposite Lee who had sat down on his bed again. Lee rubbed his eyes annoyingly, then remembering that he had in fact been handed coffee he took a large gulp of it. Thankfully it made him regain some consciousness.

 

“So…?” Lee held the cup firmly in both hands, yawned and looked up at Richard for an explanation. “What are you doing here, Rich?”

“Uhm… well…” Richard couldn’t honestly tell whether Lee was really pissed off at him or just very tired still. He suspected that the two options might not be mutually exclusive. His palms were starting to feel sweaty so he rubbed them against his thigh to dry them up, then cleared his throat.

“Well, I.... wanted to ask… if you were interested in going hiking with me today?” He paused, looking up at Lee whose eyes had widened with interest at the word “hiking”.

Richard pressed on. “Y’know, there’s this amazing park, Tararua Forest, and it has some great hiking trails, and it’s only about an hour and a half drive from here. I thought we could maybe go there and check out some of New Zealand’s most beautiful scenery.” _God, I sound like I swallowed a travel guide._ “That is…  if you don’t have anything else planned today…? If you’re up for it…?” He finished lamely.

“Hiking?” Lee had suddenly become wide awake. Flashing Richard a shy but big smile, he nodded.

“Uhh, yeah! Sure, yeah, I’d love to go hiking! I’ve been meaning to do that for a while actually, but somehow I’ve never gotten around to planning it y’know? So yeah, hiking sounds great!”

“Yeah?” Richard felt extremely relieved.

“Yeah, absolutely! I’d love to go hiking with you!”

 Richard beamed at him, suddenly feeling very hot in the face.

“Okay, let me just get dressed real quick.” At these words Lee pulled off his t-shirt, causing Richard to blush an even deeper shade of red as he tried to look anywhere but straight at him.

 

Lee was rummaging around in his closet now, pulling out a new t-shirt, a sweater, cargo pants and hiking shoes to put on, and a bunch of other gear that he stuffed in an old black backpack. “I’m guessing the weather will probably stay something like this for the rest of the day,” he said, mostly to himself as he stuffed a vibrant blue windbreaker into the backpack before zipping it closed. His stomach growled loudly.

“Yeah, I could really do with some breakfast before we leave. And shouldn’t we get something for lunch as well?” He looked expectantly up at Richard.

“We can stop for breakfast on the way.” Richard agreed. “And I… kinda took care of lunch last night. I made a bunch of sandwiches and trail mix. I also got a bunch of water that should last us through the day. It’s all in the car.”

“Oh, wow you really did think of everything didn’t you?” Lee beamed at him. “How long have you been planning this?”  

“Just since last night.” Richard shrugged, grinning. “So, you ready?” He opened the door and sunlight flooded inside again.

“Wait, let me just leave a quick message to Evie.” Lee said, bending down over his desk and scribbling something on a post-it note which he then stuck on the hall-side of his bedroom door.

“Okay, let’s do this!”

 

***

 

They stopped for breakfast at a small roadside café at the outskirts of Wellington before setting out on the road trip ahead.

The car ride was pretty relaxed, as they were both in their post-breakfast haze, and they had mostly spent it enjoying the view and talking about filming and gossiping about their coworkers. Whenever there was a lull in the conversation, Lee quickly ended it by starting to sing along to whatever song was playing on the 80s retro station the radio was playing in the background.

Two hours of driving later the pair stepped out of Richard’s rental in the parking lot of Tararua Forest Park.

 

“Wow! That is… quite the beanie…” Richard couldn’t help but comment, staring wide-eyed at Lee’s ghastly choice of hiking gear.

The sun was now high up but there was a slightly chilly breeze in the air at the parking lot, so before starting on the journey Lee had put on his blue windbreaker  and a bright neon orange beanie that he was now sporting along with a wide sunglassed grin. Together with his green and purple hiking shoes he reminded Richard of some sort of a psychedelic painting. At any rate, he clashed perfectly with the all black and dark blue gear that Richard was wearing.

“D’you like it?” Lee was obviously amused by the horrified look on Richard’s face because he let out a small chuckle. “Too outrageous, huh?” He gave Richard a smiling wink.

“Sorry, I think I just went blind there for a minute.” Richard quipped. Lee stuck out his tongue at him. “But, at least if I lose you in the woods I’ll just look around for the tallest, most unnaturally colourful thing around.”  

“You won’t lose me.” Lee said suggestively, looking Richard straight in the eyes with a slight flash of the eyebrows. The look had such a meaning behind it that it took all of Richard’s effort not to push him up against the side of the car and jump him right there and then. He managed to keep his feelings in check, however, and hoisting up his own backpack and clasping it close at the front he said, maybe too cheerily: “Right! Shall we?”

 

***

 

The trail led up a high mountain covered with miles and miles of woodlands as far as the eye could see. Occasionally the trees cleared up offering a magnificent view of the awe inspiring New Zealand nature.  

 

A short way into the walk Richard took his phone out and proceeded to explain to Lee the concept of Geocaching.

“The basic concept is that you use your mobile’s tracking signal to find certain coordinates that other people have logged into the system.” he explained, slightly out of breath as they were climbing a particularly steep part of the trail.

“Okay, I get that, but then what do you do? Once you reach the location?”

“Well, every location should have a hidden sort of an air- and watertight container, like a tupperware box, that contain a logbook where people who reach that spot can log their names and the date they were there. Some people also note down the weather conditions at the time or leave small messages. Sometimes, the containers are slightly larger and people have left small trinkets or tokens that other people can then swap out for one of their own if they wish. And so on.”

“Wow, that’s actually a pretty neat idea!” said Lee sounding very interested. “I think I’ve heard about the concept before but I’ve never actually tried it. So are there any locations around here?”

Richard consulted his phone.

“Well, according to the app, there should be at least three locations on this trail or around it. Wanna check it out?”

“Uhh, YEAH! Where’s the closest one?”

 

They spent a good while tracking down the nearest location, which turned out to be located between two small boulders in a clearing a few miles ahead. After writing their names and a small message in the logbook, they decided that since it was already well past noon they might as well use this stop to sit down to have some lunch and catch their breath.

 

Zipping open his backpack, Richard unpacked the sandwiches and trail mix he made the night before as well as two thermoses (one with coffee, the other with tea), a bottle of water for each of them and a pack of energy bars.

It was a feast worthy of a Tolkien description, thought Lee and he let out an impressed whistle.

“Wow, Rich this looks so delicious!”

Richard smiled nonchalantly. “Well… y’know, gotta eat…”.

“But…” Lee frowned and looked from Richard and to the feast in front of him. “Did… did you carry all of this yourself, all this way? Rich, you could’ve asked me to carry some of this with you, you know!”

Richard shrugged. “Ehh, it honestly wasn’t really that heavy… mainly just the water bottles… plus, my backpack is this really nifty type that clasps in two places at the front, so there’s not so much strain on the back anyway!”

Lee grinned. “Allright. But I will definitely try to eat as much of this as I possibly can now and then I’ll put what’s left over in my backpack so I won’t feel bad about making you carry all this weight all the way.”

Richard gladly accepted this offer and they sat down in the grass for a delicious picnic, in a spot that offered an amazing view over the park area.  

 

The midday sun was now so strong that Richard proceeded to strip down to his t-shirt. Following his lead, Lee removed his own windbreaker and sweater and stuffed the latter into his backpack. This gave Richard a very enjoyable view of Lee’s well toned biceps and shoulders indeed, and he was not-so-discreetly enjoying every second of it.

“Wow, this is a lot of freckles.” Richard commented before he could stop himself, but Lee just laughed.

“Haha, yeah, It’s a curse, really. I can’t be out in the sun for five minutes before they pop out. But, like only on my back and shoulders though, it’s so weird! I’m honestly just waiting for the day that my back will just form into one gigantic freckle!”

Richard snorted at the thought. “That I’d like to see!”

“Hmm, maybe you will…” Lee said with a level of suggestiveness in his tone and a raise of an eyebrow that could only mean one thing. Richard gulped but didn’t look away.

“So, what about you? Any… freckles… that I should know about… anywhere?”

_Wow, he really is shameless!_ Thought Richard, yet thoroughly enjoying this whole stupid conversation.

“Well, that’s for me to know and you to find out!” Richard retorted. Then he shrugged.

“Honestly though, when I was little I used to wish that I would get some freckles in the sun. Once, I even painted some on my face with a red pen, but I just ended up looking like I had the measles. Y’know, being english I don’t really tan so much as I rust.”

“Aww, you poor thing.” said Lee in a mock sympathetic voice. “Believe me, unless you wished for your siblings to play connect-the-dots on your back while you slept, you weren’t missing out on anything, really. Besides, you look great to me.”

Richard didn’t know how to answer this. Instead he proceeded to take a too large bite of his sandwich and consequently almost choked on it. Lee had to hit him on the back to force it back up.

 

Feeling sated and well rested, they set out again for the second leg of their journey. Before long, they had reached the highest point of the trail, the view and their surroundings getting more beautiful as they got higher. Richard found another Geocache point, at which they left a message of “NZ rocks! Wishing everyone as happy a day as we’ve had!”.

  
***

 

About halfway down the return trail, they came across a small but fairly powerful creek, a part of a larger mountain river that they had seen before from a distance, intersecting their path. It wasn’t very wide, just a few meters but it looked to be at least knee deep and the stream looked pretty heavy.

“Ahh, we must’ve taken a wrong path.” said Richard, consulting the map he had on his phone. Lee came up to him and looked over his shoulder.

“Yeah, but look, this one will still take us in the same direction, and it looks like it’s a lot shorter as well.”

“Oh, but I was actually thinking of taking this road here,” Richard pointed at a different part of the trail on the map. “See, the one with the bridge.”

“But that’s miles away!” Lee argued, “We’d have to go all the way back up to here, see and then take this longer route. That’ll take hours!”  He had already removed his shoes and socks and was now zipping up his cargo pants, turning them into shorts. “We’ll be quicker if we just wade over!”

“Lee....” Richard begged, but Lee didn’t hear him.

“Shit! Fuck, it’s freezing!” Lee yelped through gritted teeth, but he was already out in the stream, the water reaching just above his knees, making his way slowly but carefully across, trying to hold steady where the current was strongest.

Richard watched him with bated breath, his face deadly white.

Finally, Lee reached the far side of the stream, climbing up on the riverbank and quickly transforming his cargos back into pants.

“Phew! That was refreshing!” He smiled and looked across at Richard. “Okay, your turn!”

But Richard found himself rooted to the spot, unable to move his legs, staring with horror at the stream separating them.

“Rich, c’mon, go for it!” Lee said encouragingly, but Richard was already feeling the panic well up inside him.

“Uh, Lee, I…” he was starting to hyperventilate. He saw Lee’s face go from an encouraging grin to a worried frown.

“Rich, are you okay? What is it?”

Richard gulped. “Uhm, listen…. I should probably tell you that I… kinda have this major fear of water… of… of drowning, actually…”

Lee’s hand shot over his mouth and his eyes widened with shock.

“Oh, Rich… I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

“No! It’s okay… I probably should’ve told you sooner, but I actually planned this so that I wouldn’t have to come across any water…” Richard had been worrying his lower lip so much that he was tasting blood and he screwed his eyes shut. “I just… I don’t think I can do this… I’ll just try to find another way.”

“Rich, come on, that could take hours!”

“Well, then what the fuck am I supposed to do?” Richard snapped but regretted it instantly when he saw Lee’s puppy eyes stare up at him.

They stood there in silence for a few seconds.

“Rich, it’s okay.”

“No, Lee, I’m…”

“No! Listen…” Lee paused for a second, thinking.

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do. First, throw your backpack over to me!”

“Lee, what…”

“Just do it!”

Richard sighed, but did as Lee ordered. First, he decided he’d better secure his phone in an inside pocket, then grabbed the backpack and threw it over the stream. It flew in a perfect arch and Lee caught it, stumbling a little on impact.

“Okay, now take off your shoes and socks and throw them to me!”

Still wondering what on earth Lee was on about, Richard obeyed nevertheless. Now he stood there barefooted in the mud and gravel in the middle of the forest track, dreading what would come next. He watched confusedly as Lee pulled out both of their windbreakers from the backpacks and tied them together by their sleeves.

“What on earth are you doing?”

“Look, I know you’re terrified of this, but I need you to trust me!” Somehow, the fact that Lee seemed absolutely in control and the calmness in his voice managed to ease Richard’s tension a little. He managed to keep his breathing in check.

“Now, what I want you to do, is just wade in there, real carefully and start making your way across. Then, when you get close enough - it’s not that far - I’m going to throw the sleeve of your jacket to you so you can catch it and I can pull you the rest of the way. Can you do that for me, Rich?”

“I... “ Richard took a deep breath, then nodded “... yeah. I think so...”

He bent down to roll up the legs of his trousers, then stretched and took another deep breath.

“You’re okay, Rich, just walk towards me. Try to focus on my voice.” Lee was looking straight into his eyes, speaking very calmly and conversationally and Richard let himself become hypnotized by his voice.  

“And Richard?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll be right here to catch you if you fall.”

That did it for Richard. If anything, he just needed to get this over with, to get across just to feel Lee’s arms around him.

 

He was not prepared for how icy cold the water was. He gasped audibly and screwed up his face as he faced the first, iciest wave of cold, but gritted his teeth and waded on determined to make it across. He had only taken a few careful steps when he felt something slimy brush against his leg, making him jump and almost fall over. He just managed to catch himself in time, but his mind went reeling and he found himself going into full on panic mode.

“Fuck, what was that?!” He growled loudly, looking frantically around for the thing that had touched him.

“Well, this is a popular fishing river so it was probably just a small fish or something,” he heard Lee say, as if from a badly tuned radio a long distance away. “Come on, you’re almost there!”

 

But Richard couldn’t move. The river seemed to widen before him... he was hyperventilating again… his ears were ringing… everything was getting blurry... if he took one more step he would fall down... he didn’t want to fall down… then whatever had brushed against him would surely get him… god, the water was so cold…

 

Then, through the ringing in his ears Richard heard Lee speak again, sounding remarkably calm, given the dire situation they were in. He tried to focus on that voice and to shut out everything else.

“Richard, listen to my voice, okay? Now, I’m going to count to three and then I’ll throw you your jacket and I need you to catch it. Can you do that?”

Richard was sure he would vomit if he opened his mouth to speak, so he just nodded. He wasn’t at all sure that he could do that but he didn’t want to let Lee down.

“Okay, ready? One… two… THREE!”

Suddenly, Richard felt something soft clash against the left side of his face and land on his shoulder and he fumbled frantically to grab it before it slid off. It was indeed the sleeve of his own jacket and he grasped it even harder, not wanting to lose his grip on it.

“Okay, don’t let go, I’m going to pull you in now. It’s not that far.”

Richard felt a tug of the jacket and let Lee reel him in. After just a few steps - far fewer than he’d anticipated - he felt the water level on his legs decreasing and the ground level rising and before he knew it he was back on the perfectly dry gravelly path on the other side of the river. Then, just as his legs gave out, he felt two strong arms wrapping around him and pulling him up and away from the river’s edge.

“Okay, come on.” Lee grunted beside him. “There we go. I got you.”

Lee had to half-support, half-carry Richard over to a patch of grass under a large old oak at the side of the path, because his legs were still shaking too much to function properly.

They sat down side by side with their backs against the stem of the tree so that Richard could get his breathing and panic under control.

Lee had untangled the jackets from their makeshift rope and had draped Richard’s own over his shoulders and his bright blue one over his legs like a blanket to warm him up.

“Pace, I s-s-swear to god, if I get pneumonia because of you…” Richard growled through clattering teeth.

“I’ll nurse you back to health, I promise. I can make you my mum’s killer ginger and chilli tea with a splash of tabasco sauce and scotch. It’ll basically kill everything inside you.”

Richard felt Lee put a comforting arm around his shoulders and leaned closer to him.

“That... sounds disgusting.”

Lee chuckled. “You know, it really is.”

 

After a few minutes of sitting in silence and just listening to the birds in the sky and the rustling of the forest around them, Richard had mostly regained the feeling in his legs and Lee’s close presence had a nice calming effect on him. He felt a new surge of affection towards Lee for having supported him through this whole ordeal (even though he kinda blamed him for it as well - a little bit).

“Hey?” Lee gave his shoulder a little squeeze. “Are you feeling better?” His deep calm voice was full of concern.

“Yeah,” said Richard hoarsely and cleared his throat before continuing. “Ahem… yeah, I am. Feeling like an absolute tosser, but better.”

“Tosser?” asked Lee confusedly.

Richard looked up at him, grimacing.

“Well…” Richard thought and found he had a hard time putting his feelings of embarrassment  into words, especially to Lee who was so full of concern and care for him that he even had a hard time remembering why he felt so embarrassed in the first place.

“Well, it’s just annoying, isn’t it? I just feel so stupid, telling people that I’m terrified of fucking water. It’s the most normal thing in the world, isn’t it? I mean, it’s everywhere, it’s fucking seventy percent of the earth surface and I can’t go near it without freezing up and having a panic attack. I haven’t even gone swimming since I was a little kid… I’m not even sure I remember how to swim…”

Richard felt the heat rise up in his face and buried it in his hands.

“It’s just… stupid…” he mumbled, frustratingly.

“It’s not stupid.” said Lee in an attempt to cheer him up. Richard snorted. “Hey! It’s not! Everyone’s got an irrational fear of something, it’s like the most human thing in the world. Besides, as far as fears go, yours seems pretty darn rational to me. I mean, drowning? Definitely a thing that happens!” He noticed Richard flinch as he said the word “drowning”.

“Oh my god… Rich… did you…?” He cut himself off just before he could finish the question, but Richard didn’t need him to. He’d given himself away. This wasn’t a story he felt the need to tell just anyone, but Lee had definitely earned his trust enough to hear it. He nodded.

“When I was six. A few days before christmas. There’s this lake not far from where we used to live back then, where we used to play. My brother went there to play hockey with a couple of his friends and mum made him take me along and keep an eye on me. They wouldn’t let me play so I just spent the time skating along on my own a little away from them. They finished playing and the others had already gone and my brother was just finishing up. He must’ve just barely looked away from me for a second… we thought the ice was frozen solid... “ He couldn’t go on anymore and Lee thankfully didn’t press him, but was looking at him intensely.

“Rich….”

But Richard just shrugged and went on with a fake air of indifference to him that fooled no one.

“But, hey… water under the bridge, right? No pun intended. I guess I just feel silly about this because this is such a debilitating phobia.”

He was rambling on now, borderline hysterically, as Lee listened to him with a growing amusement on his face.

“And as if that wasn’t enough, I have to go and make an utter arse out of myself in front of my crush; like, not once in the meagre planning stage did I think _“Hey, going on a date out in nature, you might run into some body of water, and how are you going to fucking handle it?””_

“Richard....” Lee tried interjecting slightly more forcefully than before.

“But no, I just make all these grand plans to impress someone out of the blue, without thinking…”

He was cut short with a soft but firm blow to the back of the head.

“Could you just shut up and kiss me, Armitage!”

And before he knew it, he felt Lee’s soft lips touch his again, Lee’s fingers in his hair, drawing him closer. In an instant, Richard fought everything that had happened just a few minutes before. Right now, the world was perfect and everything was Lee. He let himself be reeled in closer as the kiss got deeper and more heated. He grabbed Lee’s right shoulder and ran his fingers softly along his delicious neck and up to his rugged jaw, making Lee moan softly into his mouth.

Weather this went on for a few seconds or a thousand years, Richard neither knew nor cared - he just knew that he never wanted it to end.

Eventually though, Lee broke away, his lips now slightly red and swollen, his chest rising and falling, trying to catch his breath. Biting his lower lip he beamed at Richard and Richard beamed back at him, pressing their foreheads together as they both tried to wrap their minds around this life changing event that had just took place. This was definitely the beginning of something new that they both knew they wanted.

 

The late afternoon sun was starting to sink lower across the horizon making the shadows of the trees around them lengthen.

 

Lee licked his lips, a sight that made Richard want to dive in for a second round, but then said softly: “We, uhm… we should probably start heading back… before it gets too dark…”

There was almost nothing in the world that Richard wanted to do less. All he wanted to do was to stay right there in this perfect spot beneath the oak tree and keep kissing Lee forever.

 

Lee, however, had already gotten up and was now holding out his hand for Richard. Not wanting to leave him hanging, Richard took it and let Lee hoist him up, knowing he would end up in his arms again anyway. He wasn’t disappointed. Lee scooped him right up into his arms again, and again they succumbed to another deep, passionate make-out session.

This time after a couple of minutes, it was Richard who broke away, needing some air.

 

Lee proceeded to strap his backpack back on and was just getting ready to head down again, but before Richard could follow his lead, he came up with a sudden idea.

“Lee, wait!”

“Hmmm?”

Richard opened his backpack again and pulled out one of the smaller tupperware containers that had previously contained their lunch, a ballpoint pen and a folder full of old scripts and scribbled notes.

“Rich, what are you doing?” Lee bend down next to him so he could see what he was doing. Richard didn’t answer him right away, but filed meticulously through the pages.

“Why do you carry all this stuff around with you?” asked Lee reprovingly. “You didn’t need any of this today!”

At this, Richard stopped to look at him, thinking. “Well… I kinda just grabbed my backpack that I usually use this morning and just stuffed everything on top on what was already there.” He shrugged. “I guess I just don’t clean out my backpack that often. It’s no big deal.”

“Well, you should! This could be really bad for your back!”

“Alright, I will. As soon as I get home!” He flipped through a few more pages and finally found what he’d been looking for, at the back. “Ahh, there you are!”

As he pulled it out, Lee couldn’t help but let out a little laugh when he saw for which scene it was and how it looked, for aside from the usual character notes and and scribbles and green highlighter ink there were also a bunch of tiny hearts drawn around one particular name.

“Rich… is that.. _our_ scene?” Lee was grinning from ear to ear at the sight. Richard blushed a little but otherwise refused to become embarrassed about this.

“Yes, it is!” he freely admitted. “Well, the hearts may be a later addition, from when I was still moping around and trying to pick up my courage to actually… make a move…”

“Aww, that’s… weirdly sweet. Dork!”

Richard stuck out his tongue at Lee, but then smiled.

“So? What’re you gonna do with it?”

As an answer, Richard entered new coordinates into the geocaching app, then folded the page in quarters and wrote the day’s date and a message on the back: _The best day of my life!_

“I’m marking the spot.”

For good measure, Lee dug in his pockets until he found an almost finished punch card from a favourite Wellington restaurant of his, offering one free meal, and slid it inside the folded page before Richard sealed it inside the plastic container and hid it inside a hollow in the oak tree that he now considered theirs.

 

***

 

The rest of the way back to the parking lot was pretty uneventful after that, but it was spent in a blissful happiness and neither of them felt the slightest need to let go of the other’s hand until they came back to the car.

“You sure you’re okay to drive?” Lee asked Richard as he opened the door on the driver side.

“I’m fine, Lee, really.” Richard gave him a little smile before getting into the car. Lee, after having removed his shoes and dumped them in the backseat, got in and stretched out bare-footed on the passenger seat and was quick to take control of the radio, finding a NZ pop music station counting down its top 40s and setting it to a conversational volume.

 

However, Richard had barely turned out onto the road from the parking lot when he heard the deep breathing and soft snoring from the seat next to him which indicated that Lee had dozed off and indeed when he caught a glimpse of him he was fast asleep, the right side of his face squashed up against the window pane, showing nothing but a peaceful calm and a little bit of drool leaking from the corner of his mouth.

 

Richard let him sleep. He drove on through the receding sunlight back towards civilisation, leaving the radio to drone on, letting himself relive everything that had happened that day. The hiking, the sight of Lee in his cargo pants and t-shirt, the way the sunlight highlighted the abundance of freckles on Lee’s skin, the way Lee’s smile even outshone the sun itself, Lee complementing his lunch, the way Lee wrote his name in the logs in his neat handwriting, dotting his i’s with circles rather than dots… even thinking fondly back to his panic attack and the way that Lee had kept his head and calmly talked him through the entire ordeal… his comforting touches afterwards.... the kiss…

 

His thoughts were penetrated by the chorus of an upbeat song that had come on the radio and Lee stirring from his nap.

“Mmmhhmmm… hey, turn it up…” Lee said hoarsely, yawning.

Richard did. It was a peppy song that he’d definitely heard before but couldn’t quite place.

 

_When I see your face_

_There’s not a thing that I would change_

_‘Cause you’re amazing_

_Just the way you are_

 

“Aww, I love this song.” Lee commented, nodding his head and doing a tiny passenger seat dance to the beat. Richard grinned broadly at the sight.

Then, as they drove across the city border back into Wellington, along with the final chorus of the song, Lee proceeded to sing along in a weird falsetto that his voice couldn’t quite reach, directing his words at Richard:

_“And when you smile/The whole world stops and stares for a while/’Cause, girl, you’re amazing/Just the way you are! Yeeeeah!”_

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> First, I want to thank everyone for their comments and kudos on my last fic. It really meant the world to me to read :)
> 
> So here's the RichLee Geocaching adventure I mentioned in my previous fic (The very best).  
> Tararua Forest Park is a real place about an hour and a half drive from Wellington (according to google maps) and from what I can see it looks pretty cool (according to google images).  
> The lyrics at the end are from the Bruno Mars song "Just the way you are", Copyright © 2010 Elektra Records.
> 
> Kudos, criticisms, corrections and comments welcome!
> 
> Thanks for reading :)


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